Sole-grooving machine



0. F. ARMSTRONG. SOLE snoovme MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, I921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l- O. F. ARMSTRONG.

SOLE GROOVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1921.

' Patented Ma 22,1222.

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0. F. ARMSTRONG.

SOLE GROOVING MACHINE APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1921.

1 1 "Y, 105 1 m f O. F. ARMSTRONG. SOLE GROOVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1B. 1921.

Patented May 23, 1922.

4 SHYEETS-SHEET 4L HASELTI-NE 00., OF

CHUSETTS.

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' SOLE GROOVING- MAGHINE.

Application filed April 18, 1921. Serial No. 462,225.

T0 azz whom it mag panama Be it known that I, OSCAR F. ARMSTRONG,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haverhill, in thecounty ofEssex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inSole-Grooving Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of ma chines which are designed to"operate on inner-soles used in the manufacture of welt and McKay-sewedshoes, for the purpose of making them more flexible.

Prior to my invention the machines of this type, which have been mostgenerally used, are arranged to. slash the sole from.

one side edge to the other bya series of parallel cuts in theifleshside. This operation does not, however, give the desired degree offlexibility and I have discovered that, in order to secure such desireddegree of flexibility, portion of the leather must be actuallyremovedfrom the flesh side, but that this must not be done in a mannerto effect the serviceability of the sole, or by, in any way, weakeningthe edge portion of the sole in which the upper attaching stitches mustbe formed. I have further ascertained that the desired result will besecured by forming a series of narrow, suitably spaced, transverse,parallel grooves, in the ball por-; tion of the sole, said grooves beingformed to terminate at a suitable distance from its side edges.

. accompanying drawings, in which an embodiment, of my invention isshown and 1n which,:- 7

Fig. 1 is a side elevation ofa machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view and Fig. 3 is a front elevatiouthereof.

Fig. 4. is a vertical sectional view at the line 0:-az of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a sectional View at the line y-y of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6. is a'detail porting plate.

.Fig. 71s a detail sectional View of one of the cutters.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail view of some of the cutter teeth.

Figs. 9 and 10 are plan and sectional views of a sole which has beenoperated on by the machine.

As shown in the drawing the base plate .1 of themachine has a pair ofbearing brackets 2 mounted thereon,'in which a shaft 3 1s journaled,said shaft being adapted to be rotated continuously. Three pulleys 4i, 5and 6 are mounted on said shaft, the pulleys 4 and 6 respectivelyadjacent said bearings and the pulley 5 midway therebetween. Fourupright guide posts 7 are. mounted in the. base 1 and a guard plate 8 1sfixed on the upper ends thereof in a horizontal position, or parallel tothe base, said plate bein secured thereon by any suitable means, asiyclamping it against shoulders on theposts by nuts9 threaded thereon. Aseries slots 10 are formed in the plate 8, which. extend from front torear. A rectan ular shaped guide plate 11 is mounted to s ide verticallyon said posts 7 and a rod 12 is connected to the under side thereof andextends downward through the base and plan view of thesole-supthrough astirrup bracket 13, attached to the under side of the base, and in whichsaid rod is adapted to reciprocate, vertically. A spring let is arrangedbetween the bracket 13 and a collar 15, which is secured on the rod 12vandis normally held against the under side of the base by said spring. Atreadle 16. is connected to the lower end of the rod 12, and arranged sothat, when it is pressed, the rod will be pulled downward, against theaction of spring .14, causing the plate 11 to be moved down'therewith. Asole-supporting plate 18 is mounted to slide forwardly and rearwardly onthe plate 11., said plate 18 having guiding ribs'19, on its under side,arranged to engage the side edges and under side of the plate 11, asshown in Fig. 4. A projecting lug 20 is formed on the rear edges of theplate 18 and a link 21 is connected thereto, at one end, by a pivot 22,and at the opposite end said link is pivoted to an arm 23 on a shaft24:, journaled osoAn r. ARMSTRONG, or HAVERCHILIl, ivmssaoirusnrrs,assrsnon 'IO Banner-n.

HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, A ooRronArIoNor Massa- Speeification ofLetters 1?atent. Patented lw 23 1922 7 of Fig. 1.

By this arrangement, when the lever 26 is pushed downward the plate 18will-be pushed. forward on plate 11 to the dotted.

line position of Fig. 1. Adjustable stop screws 28 and 29 are mounted inlugs "on the plate 11, at the front and rear ends. thereof,respectively, to limit the forward and rearward movements of the plate18, the spring 27 normally acting to hold the plate against the screw29. i

' A curved U-shaped bracket 30 is mounted V on the upper side of theplate 8, at the rear thereof, and a shaft 31 is journaled in'the arms ofsaid bracket. A'gan'g of equally spaced, rotary. cutters 32 are mountedon the shaft 31, fourof said cutters beingpreferably provided, and apulley33 is mounted on the shaft 31 at the middle thereof, and isadapted to be drivenfrom the-middle pulley 5, by a belt 34. A pairof'bearing brackets 35 and 36 are mounted on the plate 8 at oppositesides thereof and shafts 3'7 and 38, respectively, are journaledtherein. Pulleys 39 and 40, are mounted on the shafts 37 and 38, attheir opposite ends, and are. driven by belts 41 and 42 from the pulleys4 and 6, respectively. A rotary cutter 43 is mounted on the opposite endof the shaft 37 from the" pulley 39, at-a distance from the nextadjacent cutter 32 approximately equal to the spaces between the cutters32, and a rotary cutter '44 is'mounted on the adj acent end of shaft 38,in similar relation to the cutters 32. In construction the cutters 32,32 and 44 are all somewhat similar to ordinaryeircular saws, and havehook-shaped teeth, as shown in Fig. 8, which are adapted to make a cutof a width corresponding to their thickness. The diameters of theintermediate cutters 32 are the same, and substantially greater than thediameters of either cutter 43 or 44, and the diameter of the cutter 43is substantially less than that of the cutter 44. The cuttersoperate inthe slots 10 of the guard plate 8 andeach cutter extends the samedistance beneath the undersurface of the plate, as shown in 4. Thecollar 15 is so located that it will prevent contact of the plate 18with the cutter teeth when raised to its fullest extent by the spring14.' v

a The axes of the shafts 31, 37 and 38 all lie in the same verticalplane and the relative sizes of the pulleys 39, 33 and 40 are preferablysuch that the peripheral speed of each cutter will be approximately thesame. The cutters are driven in the direction of the arrow in Figs. 1and 8, so that the teeth move rearwardly beneath their respectiveshafts.

A toe gage 45 is mounted on the plate 18, at the left hand end thereof,said gage being mounted for adjustment longitudinally of the platebetween guide ways 46 thereon and a pointer 47 is preferably connectedtosaid gage and suitable graduations are brovided so that the may bequickly set according to the length of sole to be operated on. A sidegage 48 is also mounted on the plate 18 at the rear thereof in positionto engage the edge of the shank or heel portion of a sole supported onthe plate with its toe end engaged with the toe gate 45.

In practice the soles will be sorted, so that all lefts, or all rights,of one size may be operated on without changing the adj ustment of themachine. Vhen the gages have been properly adjusted for one lot ofsoles, the operator depresses the treadle 16, drawing down the plate 18,so that the sole may be placed in position thereon, in contact with thegages 45 and 48, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 6. The treadle will then hereleased permitting the spring 14 to lift the sole up into engagementwith the cutters and press its upper side against the under side of theplate 8, so that the cutters will cut into the sole to a depth equal tothe extent which they dip below the surface of the plate 8. In thisconnection it is to be noted that the sole is pressed against the plate8 by the spring 14, and not by the action of the operator in pressing onthe treadle. This is important, as the soles will always be pressedagainst the plate by the same force and the depth of the cut cannot beincreased by pressing the sole against the plate with unnecessary force.The position of the plate. 8 with relation of the saws thus alwaysdetermines the depth of the grooves which are cut, so that, to increasethe depth tlmreof, the plate 8 would be adjusted upward on the posts 7,and to decrease it the plate would be adjusted downward, thereon. Assoon as the operator releases the treadle, so that the sole'is pressedagainst the plate 8, be depresses the hand lever 26, causing the solesupport to be moved forward to the dotted line position of Fig. 1. Thesole gages are so set that when the sole is first moved into contactwith the cutters the grooves cut thereby will extend from points atdistance from the front edge of the sole, as it lies on the support,somewhat greater than the width of the sole-edge portion which receivesthe upper attaching stitcher, so that, as the sole support is movedforward, by the hand lever, the grooves in the sole will he extendedtowards its opposite edge. The adjustment of the stop screw 28 will besuch that, when further forward movement of the sole support isprevented by said screw, the

grooves will be cut to within the sameproximity of the sole edge at therear as at the front. A, seriesof transverse grooves will thus beformedin the sole fore-part, as illustrated in Figs. 9 ancllO. lVhen the lever26 isreleased,the sole-support 18 will be moved back to its initialposition and the treadle will be depressed to permit the removal of thesole and the insertion of another, sole.

As the toe gage is not designed to be adjusted laterally, the positionas well as the length of the grooves which will be formed in the sole,will be determined by the ad justment of the stop screws 28 and 29,except that the position will be also affected by the adjustment of theedge gage 48, the position of which determines the angular position ofthe grooves with relation to the sole edge and to some extent the pointsat which the grooves terminate.

It will be noted that, as all the cutters dip below the plate 8 to thesame extent, the length of groove cut by each cutter will depend on thecutters diameter. For this reason the four intermediate cutters ofgreatest diameter are arranged to operate on the widest portion of thesole, and, as the sole tapers rapidly from the ball to the shank, thecutter 43, of least diameter, is arranged to operate at this point, and,as the sole tapers less rapidly in front of the ball, the cutter 4A,which operates nearest the toe, is made of an intermediate diameter.

It will be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to thenumber, size or location ofthe cutters, as these will be varied somewhataccording to the size of soles tobe operated, the present embodimentshown being especially designed for use in connection with soles forwomens shoes, although it may be used in connection with soles for mensshoes also.

I claim:

1. A sole'grooving machine comprising a "gang of rotary groovingcutters, a guard plate through which said cutters extend a distancecorresponding to the depth of groove to be cut, a sole-support, springactuated means for moving said support perpendicularly of its face, topress a sole thereon against said plate and in position to be engaged bysaid cutters, manually operated means for withdrawing said support fromsaid plate, and manually operated means for moving said supporttransversely.

2. A sole-grooving machine comprising a series of rotary groovingcutters arranged to rotate about axes which lie in approximately thesame vertical plane and spaced apart at approximately uniform distances,a slotted guard plate in which said cutters are arranged to operate, thediameter of the cutter at one the end of said series being substantiallyless than that of the other cutters and all of said cuttersbeingarranged to project to auniform extent beyond said plate, a sole supportand means to move the same to press a sole against said plate inposition to be engaged by said cutters. i r

'3, A sole grooving machine comprising a series of rotary groovingcutters arranged to rotate about axes which lie in approximately thesame vertical plane and spaced apart at approximately uniformdistances,' a slotted guard plate in which said cutters are arranged tooperate, the diameter of the cutters at each end of said series beingsubstantially less than that of the intermediate cutters and all of saidcutters being arranged to project to a uniform extent beyond said plate,a sole support and means to move the same to press a sole against saidplate in position to be engaged by said cutters.

4. A sole-grooving machine comprising a series of rotary groovingcutters, a shaft on which said cutters are mounted, a shaft at each endof said series of cutters each having a rotary cutter thereon of smallerdiameter than that of said series of cutters and arranged to rotate inproximity to the end cutters, respectively, of said series and inparallel thereto, a slotted guard plate in the slots of which saidcutters are arranged to rotate and to extend to approximately the sameextent beyond the opposite side of the plate from that at which they aremounted, a sole-support and means to move the same to press a soleagainst said plate, and

separate means for driving each cutter shaft.

5. A sole-grooving machine comprising a horizontally fixed guard platehaving a parallel series of slots extending therethrough, a series ofrotary cutters mounted above said plate and arranged in said slots toextend below the underside of said plate, a vertically movable guidehaving a solesupport mounted to slide horizontally thereon beneath saidplate, to hold a sole against said plate in position to be engaged bysaid cutters, a spring arranged to lift said guide and soleesupport, astop arranged to limit the upward movement of said support at a point atwhich its sole-supporting face is in close proximity to, and out ofcontact with said cutters, and manually operated means for moving saidsupport downwardly and horizontally.

6. A sole-grooving machine comprising a horizontally fixed guard platehaving parallel series of slots extending there through, a series ofrotary cutters mounted above said plate and arranged in said slots toextend below the under side of said plate, a vertically movable guidehaving a sole-support mounted to slide horizontally thereon beneath saidplate tohold a dependent means under the control of the operator formoving said guide downwardly and for moving said support horizontallyagainst the action of said springs.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

OSCAR F. ARMSTRONG.

